The most recent articles from What PC?

The most recent articles from What PC?http://www.whatpc.co.uk/The most recent articles from What PC? (Generated on Thursday 8 January 2009 at 09:23:47)VNU Business Publications LTD, London UKCopyright © 1994-2009 VNU Business Publications LTD, London UKhttp://www.whatpc.co.uk/2009-01-08T09:23:47.709Z

The most recent articles from What PC?http://www.whatpc.co.uk/images/rss/wpc_logo.gifhttp://www.whatpc.co.uk/Xara Xhttp://www.whatpc.co.uk/whatpc/software/2132621/xaraTim Nott, <a href="http://www.whatpc.co.uk/">What PC?</a>, Friday 9 March 2001 at 00:00:00A well featured vector-drawing package that keeps the working environment simple.<content page="1"><html><body>Xara Studio first hit the streets in 1995, around the same time as Corel Draw 6. Although it couldn't match the entire feature list of Draw, it did present some amazing innovations, such as transparency effects and a high-quality display. It was also astonishingly fast, being written largely in machine code, and it was the work of a British company (which had earlier produced Artworks for the Acorn Risc machines).The Corel Corporation was so impressed it bought the distribution rights, and over the next few years Xara faded from view. Now it's back in the hands of its creators, and a new version, Xara X, has been released. We had a late beta version for evaluation, but apart from a lack of clip-art, this seemed to be reasonably complete.The interface is uncluttered, with the drawing tools ranged down the left of the screen and context-sensitive toolbars above. You can open colour mixers and galleries, which give access to fonts, clip-art, drawing layers and so on. Although there are no fancy stacking or roll-up effects for these palettes, as seen in Adobe and Corel products, it's a simple matter to show and hide them from the toolbar.The drawing tools are easy to use, precise and responsive, with a standard Bezier tool, and a brush that can create tapered shapes or draw with patterns such as leaves or spheres - this can also be used with pressure-sensitive pens and tablets. One unusual feature in a drawing package is the feather control: this slider gives hard-edged objects a gently blurred outline.The fill tools, while not quite up to Corel's lavish variety, are versatile and fast with two-, three- and four-colour shading, and fractal cloud effects. All fill effects can be fine-tuned from 'handles' on the filled object. The transparency tool works in a similar way, in that transparency can be graded to give realistic shadows, liquids and glass.Three tools deserve special mention. The mould tool lets you change the overall shape of a complex object or piece of text, giving a perspective effect. The drop-shadow tool does exactly what it says, but being able to fine-tune opacity and blur makes it an excellent implementation. The bevel tool is neat: you can give any shape or piece of text a 3D effect.This can be a plain bevel, a rounded edge or more complex moulded edges: dragging handles sets the depth of the effect and the light direction.In terms of printed output, there are the usual professional features, such as crop marks, colour separation and overprinting, as well as three built-in Pantone colour libraries. There's also a neat feature that can change all the shades of one colour to shades of another in one go - changing, say, a blue car to a red one.Web designers are well looked after. A button-bar tool lets you set up one button - perhaps with the bevel tool - then duplicate it to however many buttons you need; modify the basic buttons to give 'mouse over' and 'mouse down' versions; then add web links. You can also define image maps, where different parts of the same graphic have separate links attached.A special gallery makes creating animated GIFs and previewing the results very easy, and although we weren't able to test it, Xara X claims to be compatible with Macromedia Dreamweaver, and will export static Flash files.Xara X will be available for purchase from the website: downloaders will also get a CD sent to them containing the software, 300 fonts and clip-art.An uncluttered workspace, excellent image quality, speed and subtlety make this drawing application a pleasure to work with.Contact Xara: 01442 350 000; www.xara.com</body></html></content>http://www.whatpc.co.uk/whatpc/software/2132621/xaraTim Nott, <a href="http://www.whatpc.co.uk/">What PC?</a>, Friday 9 March 2001 at 00:00:00A well featured vector-drawing package that keeps the working environment simple.<content page="1"><html><body>Xara Studio first hit the streets in 1995, around the same time as Corel Draw 6. Although it couldn't match the entire feature list of Draw, it did present some amazing innovations, such as transparency effects and a high-quality display. It was also astonishingly fast, being written largely in machine code, and it was the work of a British company (which had earlier produced Artworks for the Acorn Risc machines).The Corel Corporation was so impressed it bought the distribution rights, and over the next few years Xara faded from view. Now it's back in the hands of its creators, and a new version, Xara X, has been released. We had a late beta version for evaluation, but apart from a lack of clip-art, this seemed to be reasonably complete.The interface is uncluttered, with the drawing tools ranged down the left of the screen and context-sensitive toolbars above. You can open colour mixers and galleries, which give access to fonts, clip-art, drawing layers and so on. Although there are no fancy stacking or roll-up effects for these palettes, as seen in Adobe and Corel products, it's a simple matter to show and hide them from the toolbar.The drawing tools are easy to use, precise and responsive, with a standard Bezier tool, and a brush that can create tapered shapes or draw with patterns such as leaves or spheres - this can also be used with pressure-sensitive pens and tablets. One unusual feature in a drawing package is the feather control: this slider gives hard-edged objects a gently blurred outline.The fill tools, while not quite up to Corel's lavish variety, are versatile and fast with two-, three- and four-colour shading, and fractal cloud effects. All fill effects can be fine-tuned from 'handles' on the filled object. The transparency tool works in a similar way, in that transparency can be graded to give realistic shadows, liquids and glass.Three tools deserve special mention. The mould tool lets you change the overall shape of a complex object or piece of text, giving a perspective effect. The drop-shadow tool does exactly what it says, but being able to fine-tune opacity and blur makes it an excellent implementation. The bevel tool is neat: you can give any shape or piece of text a 3D effect.This can be a plain bevel, a rounded edge or more complex moulded edges: dragging handles sets the depth of the effect and the light direction.In terms of printed output, there are the usual professional features, such as crop marks, colour separation and overprinting, as well as three built-in Pantone colour libraries. There's also a neat feature that can change all the shades of one colour to shades of another in one go - changing, say, a blue car to a red one.Web designers are well looked after. A button-bar tool lets you set up one button - perhaps with the bevel tool - then duplicate it to however many buttons you need; modify the basic buttons to give 'mouse over' and 'mouse down' versions; then add web links. You can also define image maps, where different parts of the same graphic have separate links attached.A special gallery makes creating animated GIFs and previewing the results very easy, and although we weren't able to test it, Xara X claims to be compatible with Macromedia Dreamweaver, and will export static Flash files.Xara X will be available for purchase from the website: downloaders will also get a CD sent to them containing the software, 300 fonts and clip-art.An uncluttered workspace, excellent image quality, speed and subtlety make this drawing application a pleasure to work with.Contact Xara: 01442 350 000; www.xara.com</body></html></content>VNU Business Publications LTD, London UKCopyright © 1994-2009 VNU Business Publications LTD, London UKTim Nott2001-03-09T24:00:00.000ZSoftware Reviewssoftware-applicationsMetacreations Painter 6http://www.whatpc.co.uk/whatpc/software/2132596/metacreations-painterKen McMahon, <a href="http://www.whatpc.co.uk/">What PC?</a>, Saturday 1 January 2000 at 00:00:00Painter 6 aims to do everything you can do with a brush, pen, pencil, charcoal stick or indeed anything else you would draw with. This latest version has an improved interface and works faster and more smoothly to make drawing on your PC as easy as doodling on paper.<content page="1"><html><body>Painter strives to achieve one thing - the emulation of the tools and techniques used by real-life artists in the digital domain.Anything you can do with charcoal on paper, pastel on board, oil on canvas or chalk on pavement, Painter aims to emulate and improve upon.The latest version concentrates on the application's strengths and addresses some of its weaknesses. Top of the weaknesses must come the cluttered interface.One master brush control palette now does the work of 11 previous ones.Unlike Photoshop's tear-off tabbed palette configuration, Painter offers an extended, sectioned list palette, which it likens to a scorecard. Each section of the palette can be expanded to reveal a full set of brush controls or contracted to display only the title and to save screen space. Furthermore, you can scroll up and down through the entire palette to get to the section you need. Controls that don't work with the current brush selection are greyed out and, even when the sections are collapsed, you can still see and set the main adjustment parameters. You can also re-order the palette sections, though it's not possible to customise the palette by the removal or addition of sections.Having streamlined the interface, the next priorities were speed and flexibility, both of which have been addressed with the introduction of a completely redesigned brush engine. One of the frustrations with previous versions of Painter was the length of time needed to build new brushes and the delay between the application of brush strokes and their appearance on the canvas. Rather than applying paint as a series of dabs of varying size, spacing and distribution, Painter now renders continuous single pixel lines of colour representing individual brush hairs. Mark Zimmer, Painter's co-inventor, describes this as "our attempt to create a bristly brush".Bristly brushes are more efficient and behave more like the real thing.Individual hairs can pick up 'contamination' from paint already on the canvas and redistribute it, giving much more depth and subtlety. Painter's impasto feature is also much improved. New impasto brushes, including Acid Etch and Depth Eraser, produce amazingly lifelike results.Multi-stroke spooling takes care of the glitch that resulted in lost strokes when painting quickly, and motion damping smoothes out curved strokes so they don't appear as a series of connected short straight lines.Painter's image hose has been lengthened by the addition of new nozzles to the libraries including rocks, clouds and - would you believe - sushi.The image hose, like the palette knife and the airbrush, also benefits from enhanced stylus support. Wacom Intuos tablet users can take advantage of 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity in addition to tilt and bearing support. With the palette knife, for example, the angle at which you hold the stylus determines the size and shape of the edge which comes into contact with the canvas. The airbrush allows paint to be deposited as long as you keep the button depressed. Other enhancements include standard layer features and control, QuickTime support and improved memory management. Where painter still has some ground to make up is with its Photoshop compatibility. The most recent version you can export is 3, which means you can't export a Painter file to Photoshop 5 with intact layers. Most users are going to want to do this, so this is a serious shortcoming.Specifications ------------------- <ul><li>New brush engine paints in single pixel strokes rather than dabs </li><li>Brush loading allows individual bristles to pick up different colours and be 'contaminated' by paint. Impasto 'painting with depth' feature allows realistic thick paint effect </li><li>Enhanced tilt and bearing support for Wacom Intuos tablets </li><li>Hundreds of new image hose nozzles </li><li>Multi-stroke spooling means no loss of strokes when working at speed </li><li>Motion damping for smooth brush strokes </li><li>Improved memory handling makes working with large files easier </li><li>New Brush control palettes reduce screen clutter</li></ul>Contact Computers Unlimited 020 8358 5857</body></html></content>http://www.whatpc.co.uk/whatpc/software/2132596/metacreations-painterKen McMahon, <a href="http://www.whatpc.co.uk/">What PC?</a>, Saturday 1 January 2000 at 00:00:00Painter 6 aims to do everything you can do with a brush, pen, pencil, charcoal stick or indeed anything else you would draw with. This latest version has an improved interface and works faster and more smoothly to make drawing on your PC as easy as doodling on paper.<content page="1"><html><body>Painter strives to achieve one thing - the emulation of the tools and techniques used by real-life artists in the digital domain.Anything you can do with charcoal on paper, pastel on board, oil on canvas or chalk on pavement, Painter aims to emulate and improve upon.The latest version concentrates on the application's strengths and addresses some of its weaknesses. Top of the weaknesses must come the cluttered interface.One master brush control palette now does the work of 11 previous ones.Unlike Photoshop's tear-off tabbed palette configuration, Painter offers an extended, sectioned list palette, which it likens to a scorecard. Each section of the palette can be expanded to reveal a full set of brush controls or contracted to display only the title and to save screen space. Furthermore, you can scroll up and down through the entire palette to get to the section you need. Controls that don't work with the current brush selection are greyed out and, even when the sections are collapsed, you can still see and set the main adjustment parameters. You can also re-order the palette sections, though it's not possible to customise the palette by the removal or addition of sections.Having streamlined the interface, the next priorities were speed and flexibility, both of which have been addressed with the introduction of a completely redesigned brush engine. One of the frustrations with previous versions of Painter was the length of time needed to build new brushes and the delay between the application of brush strokes and their appearance on the canvas. Rather than applying paint as a series of dabs of varying size, spacing and distribution, Painter now renders continuous single pixel lines of colour representing individual brush hairs. Mark Zimmer, Painter's co-inventor, describes this as "our attempt to create a bristly brush".Bristly brushes are more efficient and behave more like the real thing.Individual hairs can pick up 'contamination' from paint already on the canvas and redistribute it, giving much more depth and subtlety. Painter's impasto feature is also much improved. New impasto brushes, including Acid Etch and Depth Eraser, produce amazingly lifelike results.Multi-stroke spooling takes care of the glitch that resulted in lost strokes when painting quickly, and motion damping smoothes out curved strokes so they don't appear as a series of connected short straight lines.Painter's image hose has been lengthened by the addition of new nozzles to the libraries including rocks, clouds and - would you believe - sushi.The image hose, like the palette knife and the airbrush, also benefits from enhanced stylus support. Wacom Intuos tablet users can take advantage of 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity in addition to tilt and bearing support. With the palette knife, for example, the angle at which you hold the stylus determines the size and shape of the edge which comes into contact with the canvas. The airbrush allows paint to be deposited as long as you keep the button depressed. Other enhancements include standard layer features and control, QuickTime support and improved memory management. Where painter still has some ground to make up is with its Photoshop compatibility. The most recent version you can export is 3, which means you can't export a Painter file to Photoshop 5 with intact layers. Most users are going to want to do this, so this is a serious shortcoming.Specifications ------------------- <ul><li>New brush engine paints in single pixel strokes rather than dabs </li><li>Brush loading allows individual bristles to pick up different colours and be 'contaminated' by paint. Impasto 'painting with depth' feature allows realistic thick paint effect </li><li>Enhanced tilt and bearing support for Wacom Intuos tablets </li><li>Hundreds of new image hose nozzles </li><li>Multi-stroke spooling means no loss of strokes when working at speed </li><li>Motion damping for smooth brush strokes </li><li>Improved memory handling makes working with large files easier </li><li>New Brush control palettes reduce screen clutter</li></ul>Contact Computers Unlimited 020 8358 5857</body></html></content>VNU Business Publications LTD, London UKCopyright © 1994-2009 VNU Business Publications LTD, London UKKen McMahon2000-01-01T24:00:00.000ZSoftware Reviewssoftware-applications